Both the skeleton and zombie templates say that you maintain all movement types, with some irrelevant exceptions regarding fly.
It's not just a matter of 'no rule forbidding'. The rules explicitly say a creature with a non-standard movement type keeps it after being zombified/skeletonized.
Personally I think skeletons can move anywhere. Their locomotion is obviously magically driven, nor actually physical force.
you do know that the whole moving below the pressure of water is a bit odd, since, gasp, skeletons don't have the ability to move since they lack muscles...right? they are animated by magic, not metabolic process.
So wait you are trying to apply physics, op, to a bunch of magically reanimated bones that do not have any muscles moving them
Just remember it is is because of dragons instead
Based on this picture, and going off of the flying rules because without webbing you can't fly, therefore without a tale or other means of swimming, you can't swim, there is just no way it would work.
Well, obviously, skeletal humans can't walk around. Without muscles, ligaments, and tendons, you can't walk, there is just no way it would work.
Oh, right, except magic.
And dragons
The magic that empowers a skeleton grants it limited abilities. There's only so much necromancy stuffed into those bones, after all.
Then why give them a strength score?
Using the answer of "Magic" doesn't mean anything. Does that mean that, because of magic, a skeleton can lift more than it's strength score allows? I'm asking this because it will come up.
I've posted this under rules looking for a clarification. If you can clarify without being condescending, I would appreciate it.
The rules for magically animated skeletons means that it can lift what its strength score allows according to the rules, because in this universe that's how skeletons work, despite the fact that they couldn't lift anything at all in our world.
Similarly, the rules for magically animated skeletons means that it can swim at what its swim speed allows according to the rules, because in this universe that's how skeletons work, despite the fact that they couldn't swim at all in our world.
I believe that was the point trying to be made.
They have a strength score to know how much damage they do!
How many G's can a skeleton take before it passes out since it doesn't have a CON score?
Sorry op you are GM'ing mythbusters and I am GM'ing dragons
tcharleschapman, you asked your question and was given the rules answer but instead of accepting that you posted that you would ignore it and house rule that skeletons cannot swim based on an unrelated rule and upon real world skeletons. That is what opened the door to the subsequent comments regarding "it's magic".
You have your answer, except for flying, a skeleton retains all movement types of the original creature.
If you wish to make and post house rules regarding the answer then I suggest you take it to the house rules forum.
- Gauss